


Laying Down the Rules: The Gabriel Agreste Clauses

by LadyKae



Series: Rainy Days [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: "Hidden" Cameras, Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Awesome Sabine Cheng, BAMF Sabine Cheng, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Badass Sabine Cheng, But they're not for the kids, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gabriel Salt, Gen, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Illegal Recordings, Plagg Cares (Miraculous Ladybug), Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Protective Sabine Cheng, Sabine Cheng Knows, Sabine Cheng's S-Rank Parenting, Spying, There's more rules
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:09:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24723574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKae/pseuds/LadyKae
Summary: Adrien leaves the manor on a dark and stormy night and seeks sanctuary at the only place he feels safe: The Home of the Dupain-Cheng Family. When Sabine learns why her dear boy is fleeing to her home in the middle of the night, she makes a personal visit to one Gabriel Agreste.There's more rules in play, but not for Adrien and Marinette.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sabine Cheng/Tom Dupain
Series: Rainy Days [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1757320
Comments: 47
Kudos: 328





	Laying Down the Rules: The Gabriel Agreste Clauses

“Adrien!”

Nathalie’s voice gave him pause as his hand gripped the doorknob and he looked over his shoulder. His green eyes were blazing with fury. “You have one minute, and then I’m leaving,” he growled.

Nathalie looked taken aback by his tone of voice, and her hands trembled. “Adrien, please. Reconsider. It’s the middle of the night. It’s about to start storming,” she said, her blue eyes wide and worried as she looked between the young man at the front door and the open door to Gabriel’s atelier.

“I’m not staying here another fucking minute,” he hissed from between clenched teeth. “It doesn’t matter what time of night it is, I know where I’m welcome.” Adrien opened the door, rushing outside, his heart beating with the fury of a thousand supernovas. He slammed it behind him with more force than necessary, the noise echoing harshly through the courtyard and into the night air. He hauled the strap of his duffle further up his shoulder as he kicked the gate open. 

He couldn’t stay there. 

He couldn’t deal with the twisted game his father was playing at.

Adrien ducked into the first alleyway he could get to, and he hurriedly whispered his transformation phrase. He could hear footsteps following him and he needed to get away.

He needed to get to Marinette.

Chat Noir peered over the ledge after landing on top of the building, his green eyes narrowed to the space he just occupied. Sure enough, Nathalie and Guillaume followed him out here in an attempt to talk him down. 

Thunder rumbled overhead, the pitch black sky above matching his mood.

He waited until they left the area and Chat hauled his bag over his shoulder again. They knew where they could find him. He wasn’t coming back unless changes were made. More than that, he didn’t have to return if he didn’t want to. He was an adult, damn it, and he—

The suit pulsed three times and heated to almost uncomfortable, and Chat took a deep breath in. “Sorry Plagg,” he hissed, his eyes narrowed. “I’m trying to keep it in. We’ll be there in a few minutes.” 

The journey to Rue Gotlib was a heavy one, and his eyes burned as tears welled at the corners of them. Soon, he lighted on the familiar balcony and he whispered a soft “Claws in,” to release his transformation. Hands shaking, Adrien pulled his phone out and sent a text to Sabine to appraise her of his surprise arrival. That complete, Adrien pulled the skylight open. 

Marinette was fast asleep, her eyelashes curled serenely against the apples of her cheeks. Tikki was on the pillow beside her, but the kwami woke with the rush of fresh air.

“Adrien?” she questioned, rubbing her eyes with a tiny paw. 

“Hey Tikks. Don’t wake her, not yet,” he croaked as he climbed in, careful not to wake his girlfriend. He climbed down the steps, setting his full duffle on the chaise before walking for the trap door leading down stairs.

“What’s going on, Adrien?” Tikki asked as he eased the door open. 

“Sugar cube, don’t hound him. Not right now,” Plagg whispered as he floated beside the other kwami.

“Adrien?”

The voice of Sabine Cheng carried up the stairs and Adrien saw her silhouette appear in the shadows below.

“I’m coming down, Maman,” he replied, his voice tremulous. “Plagg, Tikki, wake Marinette if you see any butterflies.”

Tikki’s blue eyes went wide at the directive and she gasped, looking at Plagg.

Sabine turned on the kitchen light as Adrien joined her in the main living space and she cupped his cheeks, studying his face in a panic. She’d heard the same thing he told the kwamis after all. “Adrien? What happened, honey?”

Adrien’s face crumpled at those words and his knees buckled and he felt himself ushered over to the sectional. He sat down without any prompting, leaning over and burying his head in Sabine’s lap. It was only then Adrien felt safe enough to let the tears flow free. In that same instant, a peel of thunder rattled the windows, opening the heavens as a curtain of rain pounded against the windows. 

Even nature was crying with him tonight, it seemed.

Sabine didn’t ask him again as she pulled him into a tight hug, cradling him as if he were a small child having woken up from a nightmare. 

His life may as well be.

“Plagg and I caught some technicians in my room installing hidden cameras two weeks ago. We’ve been careful, I’ve only transformed lately after going out the front door,” Adrien admitted as he clutched Sabine tighter. “But tonight after I got home from mine and Marinette’s date, I overheard him talking with Nathalie about the footage...About what he was planning to do with it.”

There was an aura of danger in the room that sent chills up Adrien’s back and Sabine eased the young man into a sitting position on the couch. 

“Have a cup of tea and go lay down with Marinette. I don’t want to see either of you until morning. Understood?” she whispered, placing a soft, maternal kiss against his forehead. 

Adrien swallowed and nodded numbly before rising to his feet. “Maman, please don’t do anything rash,” he said.

Sabine patted Adrien’s cheeks before she rose to her feet. “You just focus on settling in. You’re welcome to stay as long as you need,” she replied. There was a false cheerfulness that Adrien readily recognized and he felt a stone settle in the pit of his stomach. 

If there was one thing he learned over the years— No! Two things— it was the fact that one, you never messed with those Sabine loved. 

The second?

Stay out of the way when she was on a warpath.

* * *

Once Adrien was settled in bed and spooned around Marinette, Sabine’s lips drew into a thin line. 

There was only one thought going through her mind. Gabriel Agreste had gone too damn far. 

“I’m coming with you.”

Sabine turned to look at Plagg as the little cat hovered near her shoulder and she held out a hand for him to sit upon. “Are you sure that’s wise? I could wind up attracting a butterfly in the long run,” she replied.

“All the more reason for me to come along. I’ll destroy one before it touches you. Not only that, I’ve been waiting far too long to see that heap of crap get what’s coming to him. Adrien doesn’t need to see it, but **_I_ ** do,” said Plagg as his green eyes narrowed. His tail was fluffed to the max in his agitation and she could hear slight spits and hisses in the silence hanging between them. 

Sabine gave the kwami a smile as she nodded. For the tough exterior he tried to put on, it was clear the kwami adored Adrien and wanted what was best for him. “Shall we?”

Plagg’s fangs glinted in the low light as he returned the grin. “Oh we shall.”

Sabine gathered her rain gear, and sent a quick message to Tom explaining why she wasn’t home, and she stepped out into the storm. Purpose, the need to protect, fueled her stride as she and Plagg made fast time going to the Agreste Manor. Once she was at the gate, she didn’t even have to buzz in.

It opened automatically.

Sure enough, Nathalie Sancouer was waiting for her at the open door.

“Madame Cheng,” she said by way of greeting, as if four-thirty in the morning was a completely acceptable time to be making a house call.

Sabine cut the woman a glare as she removed her coat and folded her umbrella. “Where is he?”

Nathalie seemed to pale at the venom in Sabine’s voice and her eyes cut to the atelier. “He’s busy at the moment,” she managed to stammer out, but Sabine was a woman on a mission.

“He’s making time for me,” Sabine snarled as she stalked over to the door. Her leg rose before she even thought of the action, and it surged forward, kicking in the door with a sickening crack. To everyone’s surprise, it flew off the hinges and into the sofa across the room.

She stormed into the room to see a surprised Gabriel rising to his feet. “You! How dare you!” she seethed as she stomped over to the desk. The man didn’t even have a chance to sputter out a reply when she grabbed him by his ascott. “Don’t even think of breathing a word, you sad excuse of a father. I’m going to talk, and you will listen. After I’m done, I’m leaving and you will think about each word because they will determine if you even have a chance at salvaging your relationship with Adrien.”

Sabine shoved him back into his chair, her grey eyes narrowed in disgust. “In other words, Mr. Agreste, I’m laying down the ground rules,” she hissed. 

Gabriel’s mouth snapped shut and his eyes cut to the door where Nathalie and Guillaume crowded the entry. He held up a single hand to them before cutting his gaze back to Sabine and he gave her a small nod.

“First and foremost, you’re taking the cameras out of his room. Adrien is a human being, with a right to privacy like the rest of us, even from you. More than that, he’s legally an adult and should not be subject to such an invasion,” Sabine snarled as she slammed her hands on the desk. “I don’t care what lawyers you have at your disposal. I’m not without connections of my own. I will make sure all of Paris knows what sort of despicable actions the famed Gabriel Agreste is thinking of when it comes to taking video of his son in what is supposed to be the privacy of his room, and possibly advertising it for sale on the dark web.”

Adrien didn’t tell her that, but Sabine connected the dots well enough.

“Second, for as long as he is under my roof, his schedule does not apply. He will not be held to the modeling commitments and will only attend his extracurriculars if he truly wants to. As for his Chinese lessons, I will be taking over those if he wishes. Considering he’s looking at a teaching degree in physics, I truly see no need for him to continue with them unless he and Marinette go to China. Quite frankly, I don’t see either of them leaving Paris any time soon.”

Her eyes narrowed dangerously upon the man as his mouth drew into a fine line, a clear tell he wanted to speak. Sabine slammed a hand back on the desk, shaking the monitors from the force of it. “Third. You will desist in the sick game you’ve been playing. He’s needed you for years after what happened with your wife. All Adrien has ever wanted is your honest approval for who he is, not what you want him to be. If you can’t do that, then be honest. But you will stop trying to control him as if he’s a puppet. As I stated before, he’s a human being and doesn’t deserve to be treated as just a damn business asset. Adrien is more than a doll that you can play with.”

Standing straight, Sabine flicked an imaginary piece of dust off her shoulder. “I’m warning you now, Gabriel. I love that young man like he’s my own. I will go to any lengths to protect him, even if it means cutting the vine that’s stifling him. Like any parent worth their salt, his happiness matters more than my own,” she whispered, her tone smooth yet threatening all at once.

“So I’ll make this clear, just in case the implications aren’t enough.” Sabine snarled, her eyes narrowed, before snatching Gabriel by his ascott again, and hauling him in so that they were face to face. “Don’t you dare fuck with my family—Which includes Adrien— or what happened to the door is only the beginning of what I’ll do to you.”

Her rant complete, Sabine turned on her heel, marching out of the atelier. She plucked up her coat and umbrella and glanced back over her shoulder. Nathalie and Guillaume had contrasting expressions. Nathalie’s was a worried one while the bodyguard gave Sabine only the slightest of nods, one she returned subtly. Once she was ready to brave the elements once more, Sabine turned to them and gave them a curt bow. 

“Thank you for seeing me. I’ll just show myself out, if you don’t mind.” Her chin was raised high and her eyes glinted in the satisfaction she’d made the impact she wanted. 

“Madame Cheng?”

Sabine popped her umbrella open outside of the door and she looked over her shoulder to where Gabriel was coming closer. The glare she cast on him was enough to bring him to a pause. “Think about each word before you approach me or my family, Gabriel. I’m leaving.”

Gabriel nodded, but he took another step forward. “I accept the terms and conditions. If Adrien is willing to talk, I’ll be available to listen,” he whispered.

Her brow arched in curiosity, but she nodded nonetheless and walked back out into the rain. It resounded in her ears as it beat against the umbrella, matching the thudding of her heart as the adrenaline wound down. 

“What are your thoughts Plagg?” she whispered.

“It’s hard to tell with him sometimes. I liked kicking the door off the hinges though. Nice touch there,” replied the kwami as he poked his head out. “As much as I want to be hopeful, I’m not. 

“Me too, Plagg,” Sabine said with a furrow in her brow. “Me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this encounter sitting in my head for a few days now and I'm glad to finally get it down and out! I hope you all enjoyed it!


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